• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 24, 2025

Apple, which has been making long-term investment goals over the last ten years, has shifted gears once again -- this time to expand support for U.S. hiring and manufacturing with significant investments in research and development and a move to produce intelligence servers in Texas.

The change extends a previous five-year goal for U.S. investments that affected search, recommendations, and advertising.

The company on Monday said that over the next four years it will spend $500 billion and hire 20,000 new workers. Most of the new hires will focus on research and development, silicon engineering, software development, and AI and machine learning.

No doubt the changes came as a result of Apple CEO Tim Cook's conversations with U.S. President Donald Trump, where he committed to move manufacturing from Mexico to the U.S.

Trump wrote in a post on the social network Truth Social that Apple was making the investment because of “faith in what we are doing,” putting America first.

The investment includes a multibillion-dollar commitment from Apple to produce advanced silicon in TSMC's Fab 21 facility in Arizona. Apple is the largest customer at this facility, which employs more than 2,000 workers to manufacture the chips in the United States. Mass production of Apple chips began last month.

Apple, which did not mention Trump in the blog post describing the changes, recently announced additions to its iPhone lineup featuring iPhone 16e. The iPhone 16e delivers fast, smooth performance and longer battery life supported by its A18 silicon chip and Apple C1, the first cellular modem designed by Apple.

The company says Apple C1 is the start of a long-term strategy that will allow the company to innovate and optimize to develop and introduce additional products.

The move of Apple's manufacturing is a massive step. Apple began manufacturing products in China in the early 2000s, partnering with Foxconn to use China's large, low-wage workforce and rapidly developing manufacturing capabilities.

Apple could face challenges in making that move, but has made a commitment that education will become a major part of helping the U.S. prepare. The plan is to open the Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit. Apple engineers, along with experts from top universities such as Michigan State, will consult with small and medium-sized businesses on implementing AI and smart manufacturing techniques.

The academy will offer free in-person and online courses, with a skills development curriculum that teaches workers vital skills such as project management and manufacturing process optimization. Apple hopes the courses will help drive productivity, efficiency, and quality in companies’ supply chains.

It appears that Cook has made these long-term investments in the past. In 2021, Apple announced plans to invest 20% more in the United States to build on its next-generation 5G technology, silicon engineering and artificial intelligence strategies that at the time had the potential to change privacy, streaming, ecommerce, search, and the digital advertising industry.

At the time, Cook had announced that Apple would invest more than $430 billion and add 20,000 new jobs across nine states during the next five years. That five-year period would have expired in 2025-2026. Even before this five-year goal, the original five-year goal of $350 billion was set in 2018.